Conflict Brewing Between UK And Ecuador As Latin American Country Agrees To Grant Asylum To Assange

Are we about to see a mini-war on UK soil, if and when Britain decides to storm the Ecuadorian embassy, which moments ago announced it has granted asylum to Julian Assange? From Reuters: "Ecuador granted political asylum to Julian Assange on Thursday, ratcheting up tension in a standoff with Britain which has warned it could revoke the diplomatic status of Quito's embassy in London to allow the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder. The high-profile Australian former hacker has been holed up inside the red-brick embassy in central London for eight weeks since he lost a legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over rape allegations. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said he feared for the safety and rights of Assange which is why he said his country had decided to grant him asylum. "Ecuador has decided to grant political asylum to Julian Assange," Patino told a news conference in Quito. Ecuador's decision takes what has become an international soap opera to new heights since Assange first angered the United States and its allies by publishing secret U.S. diplomatic cables on his WikiLeaks website." The UK, needless to say, is not happy, and the UK foreign ministry has said it will carry out binding obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden. Looks like posturing is about to hit a crescendo and someone will have to do something. Because foreign politics and diplomacy is (luckily) not central planning.

How will the UK go about declaring a non-war war on Ecuador's embassy, which is technically Latin American terrritory?

Before the decision was announced, Britain said it could use a little-known piece of legislation to strip Ecuador's embassy of its diplomatic status so that Assange could be detained.

"It is too early to say when or if Britain will revoke the Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic status," a Foreign Office spokesman said before Ecuador's decision was announced. "Giving asylum doesn't fundamentally change anything."

"We have a legal duty to extradite Mr Assange. There is a law that says we have to extradite him to Sweden. We are going to have to fulfill that law."

The Ecuadorean government has bristled at Britain's warning. It's foreign minister said Britain was threatening Ecuador with a "hostile and intolerable act" and accused London of blackmail.

Britain's threat to withdraw diplomatic status from the Ecuadorean embassy drew criticism from some former diplomats who said it could lead to similar moves against British embassies.

At this point the only thing that we haven't seen is Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton announcing that weapons of mass destruction have been found at the Ecuador embassy. Only then will the farce be truly complete.

Notably not mentioned ion the (apparently Gubamint controlled MSM) numerous senior US officials have publicly stated that so far, Wikileaks has not released anything that deeply secret or dangerous to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Whateverthefucktheyclaimanymore

This is a worrying trend developing in the war on women - now nation states can provide rapists with political immunity.

Not only are employers trying to cut back on maturnity pay - now sexual abusers get treated like royalty. We need a boots on the ground grass roots movement to readdress the balance. For me this is one of the foremost issues in the world today. Woman represents the earths mother; treat her badly and you beget a generation destined for wonton greed and moral impoverishment (just as we see with todays rampant capitalism)

How often do rapists get permission to have sex, put a condom on to have intercourse only then get a possible prison sentence only after the "victim" finds out her best buddy also had sex with the same guy?

And it's worth noting he hasn't even been charged with a crime in Sweden, they just want to "ask him questions." When was the last time someone was extradited for questions? Ridiculous. Ecuador of course invited the Swedes to question him inside the embassy but they declined. They must be extra special questions that can only be asked within the borders of Sweden.

assange: "What about 9/11? “I’m constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud.”

there are plenty of good people on this site who are still struggling with 911. This does not mean they do bad work or serve the powers that be. As I've analogized before, it's like a family coming to psychological terms with a child rapist within their family. This embassy construct and the Reuter murders would never be errected by a cause backing the oil invasions. Notice how the shit hit the fan after the Reuters spill and the world response.

As a prosecutor and criminal lawyer for twenty one years, this warrant is insane and could never be issued under US criminal law unless he knowingly transmitted some sexual disease. The blonde set up was obviously chosen out of Sweden cause they don't have bail. He (and Equador) have openly offered to be questioned on the embassy turf. Brittain's response to revoke embassy status is the final imperial veil lifted. As Equador said to the UK this morning. "We are no longer your colony." I bet Equador made some phone calls to be sure it had international backing on both the underlying subject (person and info) and embassy privilege before it made its announcement. Sick that I have to see little countries like equador and iceland stand up for (true) criminal law, consitutional rights and international principles. This whole thing makes me sick. This is the ultimate battle and represents many things that this site and the web stands for. Let us have the truth.

This is all a scam to get him to the US, where he can successfully be "interrogated" using whatever techniques the government wants to use on him - no doubt in one of the secret prisons set up by the Star Chamber secret courts after a secret hearing under the espionage acts and who knows which secret executive orders.

I agree with those who say this guy must know some incredible things for Britain to sacrifice the entire international embassy system. I can't believe the lunacy that is now passing for "wisdom" by top government decision-makers.

And of course, with the passage of the secret court acts, the rule of law is gone forever in America. Who knows what is really going on when people disappear?

And don't hit me with the tin-foil hat trash. The secret courts are fact, not fantasy. They issue secret orders regularly. They meet in secret, have secret hearings with no right to an attorney - except those secretly provided from among the government's own collection of sold-out lawyers, issue secret orders, enforced by what amounts to a secret police, incarcerating people in secret prisons, for secret lengths of time, under secret conditions in the prisons, located in secret locations anywhere on Earth.

These are truly historic times that we live. We are watching the downfall of the entire Western culture, a la the Roman Empire.

These are lawless times, analogous to "those who have a godly appearance, yet are godless."

Not sure how you extradite someone without charging them with a crime, but you are correct the extradition is for arrest only in relation to questioning of the incident in question. Apparantly you can be arrested in Sweden without them actually charging you with anything. That comes after the arrest. I thought that was supposed to work the other way around ???

Even more telling is that Swedish authorities have refused to question him anywhere except Sweden. What they're saying is that they will only investigate the allegations if Assange is on Swedish soil. In other words, they've made it obvious that extradition has nothing to do with what they claim.

For real. The fact that a government like Sweden would refuse to treat the allegations seriously or even attempt to investigate them is pretty disturbing. If you're a woman, Sweden has just dropped way down the list of places you want to be.

I usually wouldn't feed the trolls but this time you inadvertently made a good point (albeit for the wrong reason). I like it better when you're defending the NDAA than when you're expressing your viewson women.

I am baffled. Explain how the rule of law is not in the fact the PROBLEM in this scenario, because from where I am, it seems as if the sovereign UK has basically decided it is above the law as all sovereigns always do: It has decided to expeditiously nullify one law (immunity) in order to uphold another (expedition) based on purely political motives. Sounds like the same old selective enforcement bullshit to me. They could just as easily have chosen to nullify the expedition treaty with Sweden (what the hell is Sweden going to do about it?) and uphold the immunity law for Ecuador's embassy/diplomatic interests. Something tells me harassing and punishing Assange (of whom I am not a fan) is the prime directive for the UK and Sweden, Ecuador is standing in the way of that, so it will be thrown under the bus, diplomacy and law be damned.

Three cheers for the UK, the cowardly, racist, ex-imperialist, mass murdering, war-mongering, financial terrorizing creeps (taught good ol' Uncle Sam errythin' he knows!) who suddenly have a duty to finally, hallelujah, uphold the rule of law some 800 years after the Magna Carta in order to punish an Australian "hacker" for doing the media's job too well.

How telling that the British government, which once did absolutely nothing when a British policewoman was shot and killed by someone inside the Libyan embassy in London (circa 1996), is absolutely up in arms and willing to break international law to invade the sovereign territory of Ecuador to kidnap someone wanted for questioning in a case where the two original supposed accusers have backed off and dropped out of sight, but is being pursued ONLY by the government of Sweden, and a private law firm whose one of two partners was the Swedish Minster of Justice who allowed the illegal extreme rendition of two innocent Arab-Swedes, later exonerated.

How telling that the British government, which once did absolutely nothing when a British policewoman was shot and killed by someone inside the Libyan embassy in London (circa 1996), is absolutely up in arms and willing to break international law to invade the sovereign territory of Ecuador to kidnap someone wanted for questioning in a case where the two original supposed accusers have backed off and dropped out of sight, but is being pursued ONLY by the government of Sweden, and a private law firm whose one of two partners was the Swedish Minster of Justice who allowed the illegal extreme rendition of two innocent Arab-Swedes by the American CIA, later exonerated.

assange must be in the right, because if it was a simple matter of the sex thing they would never violate the diplomatic immunity. in my view it actually proves his point that he should have diplomatic assuylm

Actually, you can buy dipomatic status from some countries. A friend (Exxon executive) was driving a Mercedes with Diplomatic plates, would not tell me which country had facilitated this but it was honorary. (He said)

With all due respect ma'am, Sweden is a wealthy and fucked up place. Like most affluent countries, a glut of money and a dearth of sense. To your question, it becomes a felony when cultural Marxians implement their plans to 1) legalize 3rd wave feminism and 2) destroy the bourgeois institutions of family and community. (But what would I know about such things, being a nontheist and socially a classical liberal? Teehee.)

bravo, it reminds me of a principle in criminal trials, often, the (true) defendant is the prosecutor's best witness. This response reveals everything. The whole world should back our heroes call the bluff and put up the international finger.

Foreign mercenaries and Blackwater will be protecting the Fascist government from the American people. They don't trust American troops. They've already made extensive plans-the Patriot Act, NDAA, drones-we're already soft from the posioning of our water and food and the barium and aluminam from the massive vcmentraisl- and believe me, the spraying in the Dallas area has been incredible -I can't believe people here aren't in an uproar when they look up in the sky in the morning and see the massive spraying.

That's what proxies are for. For instance, in S.A. it's Colombia that holds the flag of american imperialism. Why send americans to die when the brown people can be manipulated to take care of it themselves?

I'm not partisan (I dislike Dems and Reps equally as any informed person should), so I need to add that Bush and Cheney are very careful about their foreign travels because they don't want to end up standing before the war criminal court in the Hague. Some countries actually take the Nuremberg rulings and international law about illegal wars of aggression (attacking a country that hasn't attacked you) seriously.

I don't mind the downticks as my comment was really tongue in cheek and may have caused some offence to some either because they are die hard Democrats or because they consider it an inappropriate comment about the President of the biggest military power.

Then again who would have expected to see Gorbachev doing ads for Pizza Hut?

Perhaps Julian might agree to work for the US in the end and save his life that way.

What does Equador have to gain from this? Equador uses the USD as their currency no? What's the deal? My wife watches house hunters international all the f'ing time. Equador was on my short list of get the fk outta here places.....

Ecuador should be on your short list....its a wonderful country and anything domestically produced is very inexpensive.....the food is fresh, people warm, and the landscape breathtaking........correas dream would be to abandon the dollar.....just not practical for the moment as the people have no trust in their own currency (ironic).....that will change of course....

Ecuador has the amazon region (jungle), which is hot and humid....it has the andean region (mountains) which is temperate.....it has the coastal region (beach), also hot and humid but not all year round....and the galapagos islands......pick your pleasure......

Then you just head for the mountains. The landscapes are incredible, no insects anywhere above 5000 ft, yet the weather is still great and stable between 55 to 80 year-round, also much drier because all the rain falls at the lower altitudes closer to the coast. Even when it's fresh the mighty sun will get you warm, fast.

Thanks for the info. I was not kididing. I was commenting on here last night that I had the displeasure of speaking with two people who I would consider at the very top of the food chain this week. These are the most evil and insane people around. Sticking around here is becoming less of an option.

Ecuador is a wealthy country if you strictly define wealth as abundance of natural resources, clean air, fresh water, a climate favorable to agriculture, and an economy of bribery thus effectively de-regulated. It is an insider economy. "I'll hook you up, my friend, it's some good business for us two."

There is a saying that "there is no hunger in Ecuador". This is their pride. "Ecuadorian time" means "I'll get there when I get there" and visible haste is the mark of one who is not fastidiously punctual, but one who is unconfident. Another phrase, "the baby that doesn't cry doesn't get fed."

This Assange business is simply a poke in England's eye as Ecuador loves to get loud over South American sovereignty issues and I'm sure Correa has a wink-wink nudge-nudge with the Argentine Cougar who is farting audibly in England's direction regarding oil deposits in the Falklands.

So what? They smuggle him out in the laundry wagon and load him onto an allied sub?

It's too bad the South American armed forces are rife with incompetence and their weapons are essentially cast offs from the western and eastern powers. So all the violent talk is just hot air.

The tip off here, and this is important, is that Correa tends to fluff up his boa in advance of oil price spikes. Google all the smack he talked in '07 and '08. Ecuador is an OPEC member.

Well I 100% stand behind Kito's commentary on its beauty and the downright honest-to-goodness of the people, and the laid back culture, and I was offered land to build by an inlaw in Cuenca, but WTF am I going to do there? Raise llamas? Open a burger joint? Adventure tour guide? And steak doesn't cook well at that altitude because the low oxygen keeps fires at a lower temp. And the coast is too damn hot. So no, I probably won't move there.

Kito I believe every word you say. Here is my only concern. When I show up and they see an American with an Italian name and a lame long island accent trying to get situated and enter their workforce etc...are they going to welcome me or take my valuables and tell me to get the eff out?

IMO the key to being well-off in Ecuador is to be well-off someplace else first, buy your estate there, and collect and deposit your other-place income in a safe international bank. Many Ecuadorian banks are short-lived ponzis (as opposed to the more three-generation-timeline ponzis in the western) whose only real insurance is the keen young paramilitary standing outside the bank entrance visibly toting a Turkish reproduction Italian SMG.

Unfortunately, I suspect it might be to get some kind of preferential, behind the scenes deal from the US and/or the UK. If it's actually a principled application of the rules of sanctuary, more power to them. I hope it's the latter.

The swivel-eyed neocons' R2P overturned the Peace of Westphalia rather successfully. Overturning the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations should not be a problem for the foolish British government. Reap the whirlwind, bitchez.

The Australian government has done sweet fuck all to protect Assange. Thank goodness for a random small South American country who was prepared to stand up for itself and what is right in the face of a UK government which was threatening to break international law and storm the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Our government is too busy kissing the arse of the US and other corrupt western governments to protect it's own citizens... disgusting.

Christine #Assange says those governments with nothing to hide are those supporting Julian (given his #WikiLeaks involvement)

Great to see our British comrades being so hell-bent on bringing justice to Assange. As his alledged misbehavior dates back to 2006 or so, we can confidently predict our Brits will go with similar verve, or even more, after the financial terrorists in both the City of London, the Channel Islands and their other offshore tax havens.

If the Brits enter the embassy by force in any way, they would be basically making any western embassy fair game anywhere in the planet. It is a very bad precedent being set up if that happens. Even the Russians and the Chinese respected embassies at the height of the cold war.........

At least we'll get an example out of some attention-seeking, irrelevant hacker's punishment, to quench the still-brainwashed ethnocentric mob's thirst for perverse justice, whose importance apparently supercedes the one commanded by the Vienna Convention and the legal status of the diplomatic asylum institution.

Hopefully populistic attention span will remember this shit, next time some random Chinese dissident is hiding in some US embassy, while Peoples Ministry of State Security waits outside.

I can't believe the UK govt. has got itself into such a ludricrous situation with this. Speaking as a British citizen (or subject!), to even suggest violating foreign embassy status like this will guarantee it losing (the very few) friends it has left - especially in S.America - just think how this will play in Buenos Aires with Kirchner's lobbying of other S.American states for support over Argentin'a 'Malvinas' (Falkland Islands) claims.

Although I'm all in favour of criminality (and especially when allegations of rape are made) being brought to account, the Swedish 'rape' allegations are not within the UK definition of unconsentual sex crimes. As I understand it, these were, at the time, consensual acts & only after 'discussions' between the female parties & Swedish prosecutor's office, were they deemed to be within the much broader definition of unconsensual sex acts.

The UK govt, should stay well within the accepted norms of behaviour vis-a-vis, the inviolabilty of diplomatic embassy premises & tell Sweden we've done all we can - suggest then they neogtiate with the Ecuadoreans directly if they want to proceed - which I'm sure they will if thery think these 'crimes' worth pursuing & prosecuting. The UK should take all reasonable steps to comply with an extradtion treaty, but not to the damage, detriment & standing of the UK by taking (or even hinting at!) action that would put in danger our, and other, foriegn embassies sovereign status - it would create a very dangerous precedent.

"the Swedish 'rape' allegations are not within the UK definition of unconsentual sex crimes"

The rape charges are nothing more that a smokescreen as the UK's statement about violating diplomatic immunity conclusively proves. They wouldn't be willing to go that far for that transgression alone. It sets a very, very bad precedent which might lead to the same at British embassies elsewhere in the world.

No, they don't like Assange because governments don't like their criminal behavior that is normally cloaked in secrecy exposed and when someone enables anonymous whistle blowing, that's dangerous to them.

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, told the BANKERS to STFU and GTFO in 2008: he declared Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate

NO WONDER HE HAD THE BALLS TO GRANT ASYLUM TO JULIAN ASSANGE!!!

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (born 6 April 1963)[1] is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and the former president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007. In December 2008, he declared Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate, based on the argument that it was odious debt contracted by corrupt and despotic prior regimes. He announced that the country would default on over $3 billion worth of bonds; he then pledged to fight creditors in international courts and succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60%.[2] He brought Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. To date, Correa’s administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment in Ecuador.[3][4]

Correa’s first term in office had been due to end on 15 January 2011, but the new approved constitution written by the new National Assembly mandated general elections for 26 April 2009. In that election, Rafael Correa won in the first round with 51.9%[5] of votes counted. It was the first time since 1979 in which a representative was elected without having to face a second round. Consequently, Correa began a new term in office due to end on 10 August 2013, which could be extended by reelection until 2017.[6][7][8]

The REAL evil axis (US, UK and their junk yard dog Israel) reveal themselves more clearly each day. I pray that the country of my birth will be liberated some day from the psychopaths now controlling it, but fear its day of reckoning is rapidly approaching. Only the stupid and the ignorant remain blind. To them I say enjoy your reality TV and wait for your "promised" pensions and your paper gold!

Article 22. The premises of a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy, are inviolate and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission. Furthermore, the host country must protect the mission from intrusion or damage. The host country must never search the premises, nor seize its documents or property. Article 30 extends this provision to the private residence of the diplomats.

Extraterritoriality for ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives gained widespread acceptance during the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain (1665–1714). In this period, British officials arrested a Russian ambassador who had run up substantial debt to the British government. An international incident ensued as Russian officials and others throughout the world objected to Britain's disregard for the diplomat's Immunity. Because of the outcry, Britain passed the Act Preserving the Privileges of Ambassadors in 1708. Other nations followed Britain's example, and the United States enacted an essentially identical statute in 1790. ..."

Madeleine Albright - 60 Minuteshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIX1CP9qr4
.
here the values of the empire and its proxies.
now we jump to the claims of celebrity banging
complainants left unsatisfied to learn they were
not unique. for these claims the lords of london
will go to the ends of the world, violate the
Vienna Convention of 1961 to get their
man and extradite him.
.
they had no problem when 500,000 women and children
starved or dehydrated to death due to sanctions.
.
i repeat, these are the values of empire and its proxies and they will, always, lie in the bed they
make, there is nothing else to say?
.
ps. mrs. albright must regret this comment but
you have to give her credit for telling the truth
even though the truth condemns her, her
sponsors and proxies to a soul less state
rendered mere shells of human beings, worthless.
sort of irredeemable perhaps? this is what they
aspire to, what they embrace and love. death
and war and the profits they believe they will
obtain, some advantage.
someone said it, when you violate the law you
forfeit your right to the protection under the
law.
and we are still devolving in sympathy with the
fraudulent money in an historic fraud driven
deflation, deleveraging phase that is seen as
a crisis / (opportunity) to gain greater control
and power by those with control and power.
avoiding the word fraud and law so as to
maintain the opportunity to steal more before
the end is recognized. and i'm not being cynical,
these are sick and bad and dangerous people
in the captains chambers. and how would i know?
see the clip above, the woman told the truth.
(failed species in the making-uneducated, dumb
fuckers at the switch it seems).

All they need to do is call him a suspected "terrorist" and take him out with a drone the minute he sets foot outside the embassy. We are already living under a dictatorship, anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Don't know too much about the details of the case, however, if it is true that the charges stem from not telling the second girl about previously sleeping with the first girl within a certain time frame...then I guess Sweden will not be hosting the Olympics in the near future, otherwise they would have to detain half the athletes.

No it has to do with a European Arrest Warrant trumping everything even though there are issues with Sweden issuing such a Warrant by a Government Official and not a Judge. The fact that The Vienna Convention 1961 can be stood on its head by an EU Arrest Warrant is fascinating

Is there nowhere on the planet that someone can escape the banker cartel? To that old refrain, there will always be an England, one must now add, there is no longer such a thing. It's just another puppet country subservient to the masters in New York.

You can’t have progress within Western Civilization without law, without justice; it will collapse and break. If Britain wants, she can revoke Equador’s status and make them leave, but she has no right under international law to take any of Equador’s property, including Assange. That’s an act of war. It’s the same as attacking the country.

Perhaps its time for the Brits to expropriate another set of Islands. Let's try the Galapagos Islands this time. (The Galapagos' are Ecuador's crown jewels. Hey, it's all they've got!) The Brits can call them "Falklands TWO"!

Having lived in Ecuador under both military dictators and marxist monsters, I would NEVER want to make it a permanent residence. Ecuador's current Marxist regime is NO recipe for prosperity or good living!

There are four charges: that on 14 August 2010 he committed "unlawful coercion" when he held complainant 1 down with his body weight in a sexual manner; that he "sexually molested" complainant 1 when he had condom-less sex with her after she insisted that he use one; that he had condom-less sex with complainant 2 on the morning of 17 August while she was asleep; and that he "deliberately molested" complainant 1 on 18 August 2010 by pressing his erect penis against her body.

I can't beleive what I'm reading in this thread of ZH. It is the playground for communists. The majority of all comments in this thread is absolutely out of proportions. This is Equador for you:

"...

As soon as President Correa was elected in 2006, he began laying the groundwork to bring “21st Century Socialism” to Ecuador. Following the playbook of his political mentor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Correa quickly convened a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution—the 20th in the 182-year history of the Republic of Ecuador..."